A new ban on video games in UK prisons limits gaming to those who have earned "top privileges" and completely bans violent games and shooters with an 18 or older rating. The rule change comes after new prison directives hit that prevent taxpayers' money from being used to buy games or consoles. The change in rules come after the Government revealed that they spent more than £10,000 on 80 PlayStations and 15 XBoxes for youth offender institutions.

In a document including the rule changes, Michael Spurr, the Prison Service's director of operations, wrote: "These changes will ensure that prisoners may only earn access to games consoles by a positive demonstration of good behaviour and commitment to the requirements of their sentence plan. "This is in line with government policy flowing from the Prison Policy Update paper of January 2008."